


Even When I Did

by lightbulbmoments



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crushes, Drunk Texting, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-05 10:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12792708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightbulbmoments/pseuds/lightbulbmoments
Summary: Waverly has a crush and a mysterious admirer who keeps leaving notes for her...





	1. Chapter 1

They had only ever had one or two classes together, and Waverly didn’t know whether she hated it. One the one hand, she barely ever saw Nicole, but there were, admittedly, a lot fewer opportunities to embarrass herself in front of her. Even thinking about _that incident_ in the canteen made her blush; _why was she_ so _clumsy?_ It had been _mortifying_ , to say the least, and Wynonna had brought it up, oh, about _ten times a day for about a month. Ugh._

Even though Nicole’s locker was about as far away from Waverly’s as it was possible to be ( _the universe must_ hate _her…_ ), when Waverly opened her locker and the entire contents spilled onto the floor, she looked around wildly, hoping the other girl had not, in fact, witnessed _yet another_ of Waverly’s embarrassing moments. Luckily, it looked like she had been spared from the humiliation - but - _fuck._ Wynonna swooped in like an unwelcome crow, dressed in her customary leather. Her sister _always_ seemed to appear at the most unfortunate moments.

“Having a bit of trouble there?” she asked, grinning, and proceeded to unceremoniously shove everything back into Waverly’s locker. Well, almost everything.

A rather unremarkable piece of paper was left lying on the floor, moving around slightly in a draught coming from an open classroom door. Waverly thought it might have been ripped from an exercise book. As she reached down to retrieve it, Wynonna once again butted in, snatching it out of reach. After reading it quickly, she smirked at Waverly. “It looks like you might have a secret admirer,” she said, with a touch of pride. Putting a hand over her chest, she adopted a look of inordinate amusement. “My little sister; all grown up!”

“Shut _up_ ,” ordered Waverly through clenched teeth, looking around once again to check whether anyone had heard. She _was_ curious, though. However, after she had tried, unsuccessfully, to wrestle it from her sister’s iron grip, she had to resort to asking “What does it say? Show me!”

“Well, you only had to _ask_ …” Gleefully, Wynonna read the note out in an exaggeratedly high pitched voice, despite Waverly’s desperate attempts to quiet her down.

_Your smile is beautiful. It’s practically infuriating how stunning you are._

Waverly was utterly bewildered. Surely this was meant for someone else… no-one in their right mind would ever write _her_ a note! Also - it was kind of sad, when you thought about it; very cliché.

“What does that even _mean_ ?” despaired Waverly out loud, as her sister rummaged through the rest of her locker to see if there were any more of what _she_ called ‘love letters’. There weren’t, and the two girls came to the conclusion that the note must have been the only one.

* * *

 

When the two sisters arrived home at the end of the day, Wynonna wouldn’t stop pestering her younger sister about who the mystery writer could be, while Waverly was trying desperately not to think about it. However, it was all her mind kept coming back to. _Notes. They were, well, a surprisingly anonymous method of communication, albeit a rather old fashioned one. Perhaps_ she _could even write - No. There was no way._ Shaking her head vigorously in an attempt to dislodge the plain stupid idea her brain had somehow managed to produce, Waverly tried to concentrate on whatever it was Wynonna was saying.

“… would have found this absolutely hilarious when I was your age,” she finished wistfully, as if she were centuries older than Waverly, as opposed to the mere six years that separated them.

Giving a non-committal nod, Waverly excused herself to her room as quickly as possible, suddenly eager to call Jeremy for his opinion. The two had been friends for almost the whole of their years at school together; they had gravitated towards each other through what Wynonna referred teasingly to as “nerd magnetism.”

Despite what Wynonna’s continuous innuendos seemed to imply, there was absolutely _no_ ‘attraction’ between the two of them. Jeremy was happily content with - or at least happily _resigned_ to - his ongoing ‘crush’ on a certain Doc Holliday (a boy who had enough years on them to have retained an air of mystery, but who Waverly heard had a seemingly endless parade of fangirls keening for his attention), and Waverly... well, she had _Nicole_ . Or rather, she _admired_ Nicole? Wanted to be like her? Or just simply just to be liked _by_ her? All in all, Waverly found it to be _quite_ confusing. She hadn’t even talked to Jeremy about it; whilst he chattered on animatedly to her about “Doc this,” and “Did you hear Doc did that,” she was perfectly satisfied with placidly dodging his frequent questions into who held her ‘eternal love’. However, she thought this might need to soon be rectified - if she was going to go ahead with another potentially-disastrous ‘idea’, then she could definitely use some assistance.

* * *

 

“..." Waverly’s silence stretched out into what felt like almost a full minute, until, awkwardly, Jeremy carefully attempted to nudge her into bringing up whatever she had actually called to talk about.

“Soo…”

Waverly didn’t reply. Jeremy wondered briefly whether Wynonna had stolen her sister’s phone and was prank-calling him to see how long it would take for him to realise it wasn’t Waverly on the other end of the line. _(Hey - it was more likely than you would think!)_

“Look, Waves; I love you and all, but this must be important - it’s 2am for crying out loud! - and I’m kinda curious why you called _now_ , of all times,” said Jeremy tiredly.

As if only just realising the time, Waverly blurted out a hasty “I’m so sorry!” However, before she could lapse into silence again, Jeremy, out of sheer desperation, took a deep breath and said, all in a rush,

“Isthisaboutyoursecretcrushonthatgirlinlitclass?”

“What?! No! Why? No - why would you even _think_ that?” Waverly seemed instantly more alert and responsive at this.

Jeremy just grinned wickedly into his phone. He practically _lived_ for the rare appearances of Flustered Waverly; the girl was so often completely calm and collected while Jeremy himself simply flailed that he cherished moments like this.

“...it might be?” Waverly admitted hesitantly. “-but I swear I will actually murder you if you ever tell anyone!” she added hastily. “She’s just so… agh! I don’t even _know!_ ”

Whilst he was, of course, ecstatic to have finally pried this confession from Waverly, Jeremy was still struggling what made this matter so ‘call-at-2-in-the-morning’ urgent. (His delight, though exuberant, did in no way eclipse the profound, all-consuming sleep-deprivation which only a student could know.)

“Umm… I still fail to see why you couldn’t have waited all of -” he checked his watch, “- six hours to tell me about this. Ooh; are you going to talk to her? Tell her?” Jeremy’s excitement carried clearly through to Waverly, even in the hushed voice he was using. “Wait - have you ever even had a _conversation_ with her?” he asked curiously. “Do you even know her name? Or is this only from afar?”

“Of course I know her name!” replied Waverly defensively. “And, no, we haven’t _exactly_ talked to each other, but -”

“- _Star-crossed lovers: two girls, destined to meet; unrequited love - or perhaps love returned…_ ” Jeremy was using his best ‘Trashy YA Blurb Narrator’ voice, and the faux gravity in his voice almost made Waverly start laughing.

“What’s that? Another John Green?” she teased him, only for him to retaliate through a not entirely unexpected minute-long tirade about the sheer audacity of “basically all his characters _dying,_ Waves; it’s just _cruel!”_

Before Jeremy could go off on another rant about _certain authors’_ mortality rates, Waverly carefully switched the subject back to her ‘idea’ (whether it deserved such an optimistic title was yet to be discovered). It was beginning to look more and more ingenious the more tired Waverly got - which, she supposed, was _probably_ not a good sign… _Oh well._

* * *

 

As soon as Waverly arrived at school, Jeremy barreled into her, already an over-caffeinated, uncoordinated ball of energy. (Jeremy was almost always at school before her to do some strange chemistry extra-credit project or another.) Laughing, she pushed him off, and the two of them began to walk slowly in the towards their classroom, heads bent together, already discussing in detail how Waverly was to exact her plan from the previous day - or rather the early morning.

    Whilst Waverly was certain she wanted to leave a note in Nicole’s locker, prompted by the ingenuity of her own note-writer, she hadn’t yet decided on the specifics of what, _exactly_ , the note was to say. Jeremy was of the opinion that Waverly should declare her undying love to Nicole: “it’s anonymous for a _reason_ , Waves - she won’t even know it’s you!”, but Waverly was leaning towards a less dramatic first impression.

“Maybe I’ll just… I don’t know… write ‘hi’ or something?” despaired Waverly, and Jeremy groaned exaggeratedly.

“Bo-ring!”

Waverly was silent for a few moments, scribbling something down. Just as the bell rang to signal the start of registration, she thrust the sheet of paper at him. He stared at it intently until Waverly asked, anxiously,

“What do you think?”

_um, you don’t know me but i just wanted you to know you’re really, i don’t know, cute? i swear it’s not a prank but yeah, um, have a good day :)_

    Jeremy grinned. “It’s perfect! …” he said happily. “Very you - which is a good thing!” he clarified as Waverly raised her eyebrows questioningly. “Just…” Quickly, Jeremy pulled the note back towards him, hiding what he was doing from Waverly’s curious gaze.

As their form tutor was about to enter, he quickly passed the paper back to her. Opening it cautiously, she smiled slightly down at it. Jeremy had drawn a small cluster of hearts in one corner. _That boy was incorrigible._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Conflicted looks good on me/ I’m trying, desperately/ I want you all to myself this time.”

Nicole’s day had been, to put it bluntly, _pretty shit._ She had received one of the lowest grades she’d ever had, and was pretty sure she had also failed the English Lit. essay she had had last period. To top it all off, her _stupid fucking locker door_ was stuck (most likely as a result of the amount of times Nicole had slammed it shut to run to her next class). As it was, she had to resort to aggressively yanking the offending compartment open, causing the rest of the lockers to shake worryingly. She barely glanced down to dump her numerous textbooks in her locker, and so only _just_ noticed the slip of lined paper, folded neatly in half, that rested on a pile of exercise books. Thinking it was nothing more than some class notes that had fallen from a book, she tucked the seemingly insignificant paper into her bag, and promptly forgot about it until she got home.

* * *

 

“But - but what if she doesn’t see it?! What if she _does_ see it? What if -” Waverly’s babbling was cut short by Jeremy placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Calm _down_ ,” he said soothingly, “she doesn’t even know it was you.”

This thought seemed to placate Waverly for a couple of minutes, and the two of them lay in comfortable silence on the floor of Waverly’s room.

“Soo… what are you going to write next?” asked Jeremy experimentally. Waverly just shoved him, and rolled over to face away from him.

“I don’t _know_!” she despaired, covering her face. “I have absolutely no idea!”

“You could… you could tell her something about yourself?”

“Jeremy - that’s so dull.”

“Ummm - oh you could write some lyrics of that song you’re always listening to! I could swear you’re practically obsessed by this point.”

“No! How cliché do you think I am!” The sheer disgust in Waverly’s voice was evident, and even though he couldn’t see her face, Jeremy could tell that Waverly had just rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

 

After an exhausting walk home Nicole flopped gracelessly onto her bed, reluctantly retrieving her bag so as to begin the mountain of homework that she had been putting off for days. Pulling her Bio notes from a folder, a piece of paper, which she vaguely remembered shoving into her bag earlier, fell out. Reaching down, she picked the scrap up, and was about to throw it towards her bin when she noticed a small heart poking out from a dog-eared corner. Carefully, she smoothed the paper out, and grinned self-consciously down at the group of carefully drawn hearts.

 _Must be notes from English_ , she supposed. She was always so distracted in those classes - which was perhaps why her essay had gone so badly.

However, as her eyes quickly skimmed over the couple of sentences on the paper, she realised that it was _not_ , in fact, one of her notes.

_-um, you don’t know me but i just wanted you to know you’re really, i don’t know, cute? i swear it’s not a prank but yeah, um, have a good day :)_

The thoughtful sentences left a warm feeling in Nicole’s chest, and this dwelled there for a while, while she tried to think who could have slipped this into her locker. More importantly, who would _want_ to? (Whilst Nicole wasn’t _un_ popular, she was in no way near the top of the social ladder. That wasn’t to say she was friendless and miserable - she had some very close friends, and there were lots of other people with whom she was on good terms.) Re-reading the note, Nicole could ascertain absolutely nothing about its writer. _It was infuriating_.

Her mystery note did, however, serve the purpose of reminding her about her messages to Waverly. Grabbing a pen, she pondered what to write for a few moments, before decisively placing it to a sheet of paper.

 _I was listening to this song for about the fiftieth time today. It reminds me of you; I think you’d like it: ‘21 Questions’ by Waterparks. There’s one line that I absolutely love -_ _“Conflicted looks good on me/ I’m trying, desperately/ I want you all to myself this time.”_

Nicole supposed that she could slip it into Waverly’s locker before the English Lit. class they shared, so folded it up and tucked it carefully into her textbook. Then, she picked up her headphones and put them on, preparing to make a start in her seemingly endless pile of homework and revision.

* * *

 

Nicole slumped into her seat, glaring angrily at the ceiling; she had just had a grueling PE fitness lesson, which had overrun and consequently meant that she hadn’t managed to leave Waverly her new message. Usually, Nicole tried her hardest to pay attention to Mrs McCready - their teacher - although she was often distracted by a certain pupil who sat a couple of desks away from her. She had just about zoned out of what the teacher was saying when she heard a cacophony of scraping chair legs and people rushing past her. Confused, she saw that there was already a small crowd of people gathered around the teacher’s desk, and hurried to see what had them so excited in a last period lesson on a Friday afternoon.

“Now remember,” she heard the teacher say in the background, “my decisions are final. I will not - I repeat, _not_ be changing any of these pairs; I have chosen them carefully, and they are not up for debate.”

At this point, Nicole’s concentration drifted once again, but this time not for lack of focus. She could just about hear Waverly talking to someone who she assumed was Jeremy, and, inquisitive as ever, she strained to make out what they were saying over the buzz of their classmates.

“-but… I don’t even think we’ve ever even had a _conversation_ before!” Waverly said, almost desperately.

“Well, go _talk_ to her then; you know you’ll have to eventually.” Jeremy drew out the last word playfully, before gently pushing her away from him.

Noticing the crowd around what must be the list of partners had thinned considerably, Nicole made her way towards it. As she weaved in between desks, she could catch snippets of conversations. It seemed as if, on the whole, everyone was fairly pleased with their designated partner. (In one class a few years ago, Nicole remembered, almost everyone she had spoken to had got on so badly with their respective partners that they had all ended up completing their projects alone.) Finally, Nicole reached the table, hoping to find herself paired with Rosita (who she sat next to.) The two of them had been best friends since almost the first day of school, and sat together for just about all the lessons they shared. Skimming down the page, Nicole searched for her name, finding it near the bottom of the page.

_Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp._

She knew it was ridiculous, she knew it was _completely_ ludicrous - but Nicole could swear she felt her heart skip a beat at reading the name next to hers. Waverly Earp. _Waverly._ She turned around, dazed, to find the girl herself standing so _very_ close. _Close enough for Nicole to reach out and brush the infuriating strand of hair out of Waverly’s entrancing dark green eyes._ Shaking her head in an attempt to rid it from the intrusive thoughts, and noticed a flicker of confusion flit across Waverly’s face. Clearing her throat, the other girl asked all in a rush,

“So I was wondering whether you had any ideas -  fortheprojectwe’remeanttobedoing?”

Nicole could barely make out the last phrase due to how quickly Waverly had blurted it out. Blushing, the girl stared down at her shoes, and Nicole hurried to fill the silence. “I don’t really mind; do you have any suggestions?” She hated how formal and unfriendly she sounded, when in reality she was simply nervous. And scared. _What if she said the wrong thing? What if Waverly hated her?_

“Um… actually, no. McCready said to compare a classic to its film adaption, didn’t she? So, we could watch a Shakespeare, or an Austen…”

“Dickens or Fitzgerald could be good?”

Waverly enthusiastically agreed, perhaps a little too pleased that Nicole had contributed something. After a few more minutes of increasingly comfortable conversation, the two girls exchanged phone numbers. Nicole _tried_ to not seem to eager as she punched Waverly’s number into her phone, she really did, but as her phone buzzed with a reply to her cursory ‘hi it’s nicole’ text, she couldn’t help but beam at her phone.

As they had yet to decide on a film to watch, the two girls agreed to text each other after class. When the movement time bell rang at the end of the lesson, Waverly went to run off to her next subject, before stopping and waving quickly to Nicole before darting off. Nicole couldn’t stop replaying the happy expression on Waverly’s face for the rest of the day.

When Rosita saw Nicole in the next lesson, she just smiled knowingly, and patted her sympathetically on the shoulder. “You’ll get over it,” she said wisely, but Nicole wasn’t sure whether she wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the response to the last chapter blew me away [insert hamilton reference here]!  
> i live for your comments and kudos :))


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Texting, missed calls and even more notes...

Waverly was lying on her bed, completely engrossed with her phone when Wynonna walked in. She was so absorbed with composing a text that she didn’t notice her sister for a few long minutes, until Wynonna loudly cleared her throat.

“Who are you texting?” asked Wynonna slyly. “A special someone, perhaps?”

Blushing profusely, Waverly unsuccessfully attempted to conceal her phone from her sister’s inquisitive eyes, but as Wynonna was crossing the room in a few of her lengthy strides, the older girl managed to catch a glimpse of who Waverly was so absorbed in texting.

“Ooh, Nicole!” exclaimed Wynonna, “Not _the_ Nicole? - Nicole _Haught_?”

Waverly was stunned. Wynonna _knew_ Nicole? Or perhaps only _of_ Nicole… Seeing her younger sister’s momentary distraction, Wynonna eagerly seized the opportunity to grab Waverly’s phone whilst cackling almost maniacally.

“I swear, if you text her, I will actually murder you.”

At the disbelief and hint of amusement on Wynonna’s face, Waverly readily elaborated. “In your sleep; I would murder you - probably smother you - in your sleep, and you wouldn’t even wake up to fight back.”

Wynonna merely raised an eyebrow in her sister’s general direction, only partially surprised at the amount of tie Waverly evidently must have sent deciding the details of how precisely to exact her sister’s ‘unfortunate’ demise. The overly saccharine smile that accompanied the alarmingly well thought-out plan only made it more disturbing, but Wynonna was far too preoccupied with scrolling through Waverly’s texts to reply.

* * *

 

**26/11/17 [Nicole Haught]**

(14:47) _hi it’s nicole_

(14:50) hi :)

(15:15) _so about the project?_

(15:15) _we could do gatsby maybe?_

(15:16) _unless you don’t want to of course that would be cool_

(15:19) no no that’s actually a great idea!

(15:21) when should we start watching it?

(15:25) _um actually idk? tbh im a slight mess right now i think im failing one of my subjects so idk?_

(15:27) oh no! which one?

(15:31) _um french…_

(15:31) _i regret everything idk why im taking it_

(15:35) mais j’adore le français! do you need any help?

* * *

 

“Well someone’s keen…” Wynonna smirked at Waverly, tossing her phone back. “Speaking of,” she continued, “any news on the notes front?”

Waverly froze, staring down at her hands. _How did Wynonna know she was leaving notes for Nicole? What if Wynonna_ told _Nicole?_

Impatiently, Wynonna asked again, “Have. You. Got. Any. More. Notes?”

 _Oh. Right._ Breathing a sigh of relief, Waverly shook her head without looking back up, and Wynonna generously took the un-subtle cue to leave. In reality, Waverly _had_ received a few more notes, slipped, unnoticed,into her locker between periods. She had read them quickly, her eyes darting between the words, trying to make out _anything_ about their writer. When, inevitably, she didn’t succeed, she had smoothed them flat and placed them delicately into her bag. They were all kept between the well-worn pages of a book by her bed, and, more often than she would have liked to admit, Waverly would find herself re-reading the longer ones, attempting to learn even the _smallest_ detail about the person who had left them.

Most of the notes seemed to be written spontaneously, on ripped scraps of paper torn from the back of an exercise book, but the ones that interested Waverly the most were those which had evidently been thought over and over, full of crossings-out and re-wordings.

* * *

 

_Waverly,_

_I know you’re probably_ ~~_sick of these_~~ _wondering why I keep writing these, but I don’t really know myself. I’ve always_ ~~_admired you God that’s clich_ é~~ _liked you but I didn’t really know how to say it. We have so many classes together, and I keep_ almost _talking to you - and then I don’t. I guess ~~I~~_ ~~_’m scared, maybe_~~ _don’t like not knowing what will happen; it’s hard to explain. Sorry._

* * *

 

Just as Waverly finished reading the most recent note for what seemed like the fiftieth time, she noticed a notification on her phone, the light it was casting gently illuminating a corner of her room. _Ugh; she must have been too preoccupied with Wynonna to notice it going off._ However, when she picked up the phone, she was greeted by an unfamiliar contact, unless -

“Wynonna!” yelled Waverly exasperatedly, “For the last time, STOP messing up my contacts!”

Leaning against the doorway - _how had she got there so fast? -_ Wynonna was evidently remembering the _last_ time she had done that. “Ahh yes… last time…That was absolutely hilarious, didn’t you think?”

(Waverly had a _very_ clear recollection of the last time, which had ended after she had drunk-texted Jeremy to pick her up instead of Wynonna. Come to think about it, it might have been from that incident that Jeremy had begun to suspect Waverly of crushing on Nicole; Waverly could blurrily remember texting who she had _thought_ was her sister about Nicole’s stupidly attractive eyes, or something along those lines. Like she said, it was all a bit blurry.)

Lost in her reminiscence, Wynonna was almost - _almost_ \- too slow to duck the balled up sheet of paper Waverly threw at her, but managed to catch it inches before it impacted with her face.

What then ensued between the two sisters could only be described as a brawl, albeit a friendly one.

Later, sitting exhausted with shreds of paper around her (the room greatly resembling the scene of a huge confetti explosion), Waverly couldn’t help but wish this was the type of moment she could share with Nicole.

* * *

 

(15:37) _[One missed call from_ **_Haught-stuff_ ** _]_

* * *

 

 _Fuck; she had completely forgotten about the notification in the midst of her and Wynonna’s paper war._ Hurriedly, Waverly dialled Nicole’s number (which she had _not_ memorised immediately after getting it, _excuse you_ ), praying that the other girl would pick up. After the fourth-or-so ring, Waverly started to regret calling. It had been almost a whole hour since she had missed Nicole’s call; maybe -

“Hey Waverly; what’s up?” Nicole’s cheerful voice interrupted Waverly’s spiralling thoughts, and she scrambled to collect them before replying.

“Oh - I’m really sorry - my sister, Wynonna - I’m so sorry I missed your call.” _Smooth, Earp, very smooth._

“Don’t worry about it,” replied Nicole airily, “ - and definitely don’t apologise. I just thought it would be easier to talk, rather than text; that’s all.”

“Um, okay.”

There was an awkward silence between them, thick and unyielding. Waverly wracked her brain to try and remember what they had been texting each other about, but her mind came up blank. When, finally, she grasped onto a thread of what they were discussing what seemed like hours ago, Waverly began to speak only to start talking exactly as Nicole did.

“So you were saying about French -”

“I think you mentioned Gatsby -”

The two girl stopped simultaneously as soon as they became aware of the other. Waverly was blushing, and was tremendously thankful that Nicole couldn’t see her right then. When it became apparent that Nicole wasn’t going to continue anytime soon, Waverly cleared her throat nervously, and started again.

“You said you were failing French?”

“I did.”

“I’m kind of fluent?” Waverly said, unsure of how it would be received. “I mean, to some extent,” she amended quickly. “I could help you, if you want - si tu veux…” She trailed off, infinitely grateful when Nicole responded with an enthusiastic:

“That would be amazing! I mean - you would do that for me?”

“I’d do a lot of things to - FOR you. I’d do a lot of things _for_ you.” Waverly laughed nervously, and hastily changed the subject. “What were you saying about Gatsby?”

“Well, I think we both agree that it would be a good one to do, right? So we should try to sort out some time to do it?”

“Sure,” agreed Nicole readily, and the two of them set about deciding on the best day to start watching the film. After a couple of minutes, they had settled on the next weekend:

“That way, I can help you study one day; I don’t know how I’d cope if you dropped out and I never saw you again,” joked Waverly, though Nicole thought - or perhaps it was just wishful thinking - that there was an edge of seriousness to her voice.

* * *

 

Only about half an hour after they had concluded their phone call, Waverly’s phone buzzed once more. Seeing the ridiculous contact name, Waverly smiled fondly. Maybe she’d leave as it was for a while…

**26/11/17 [Haught-Stuff]**

(16:54) _sorry; just checking did we say next saturday? sorry…_

Waverly’s reply was almost instant.

(16:55) yup :)

Nicole took a while with her reply, and Waverly had just put her phone back down when it vibrated again.

(17:01) _thanks! can’t wait x_

Waverly could suddenly hear her heart pounding unnaturally fast. _How was she meant to reply to that?!_ Taking a steadying breath, she quickly typed her reply, her finger hovering over the ‘send’ button. _Fuck it._

(17:03) me neither x

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> your comments and kudos make my day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this update has taken a little while (revision season again) - but it's longer!

It was a completely run-of-the-mill, boring Friday afternoon - to everyone, that is, except for Waverly.  _ It was exactly one week after she and Nicole had been made partners for a project. Exactly 24 hours before they were going to watch a film together. ( _ Technically _ it was for class, but still…) _

It was also exactly a week since the notes from her mysterious ‘admirer’ (Waverly found the term absolutely laughable, but Wynonna seemed to be on a one-woman mission to use the outdated word as much as possible) had started to appear less and less frequently. When they started, there had been a couple of short but sweet messages each day, but now they were becoming more scarce; sometimes, a full day - or even two - would go by without hearing  _ (seeing?  _ read _ ing?) _ a single word. Waverly had tried to not be disappointed; she really had - and if it had been surprisingly successful,  _ well _ , that was in no way related to the majority of her time suddenly being occupied by a certain Nicole Haught.

For a brief, flicker of a moment, Waverly had considered whether Nicole could have been writing the notes; maybe it was no coincidence that it was now that they were tailing off. However, she had quickly dismissed the notion as absurd - inconceivable, in fact.  _ That would be just ridiculous. _

* * *

When she walked past Nicole’s locker, once again empty-handed and with no immediate plan of when to next leave a note, Waverly was reminded how she herself had been finding it increasingly difficult to find time to write notes for Nicole. Every time she passed by the other girl’s locker, she felt a twisting pang of guilt curl in her chest and she couldn’t help but wonder whether Nicole missed her notes. _ What if Nicole thought that she had been forgotten? _ Sure,  _ Waverly _ knew there was a perfectly logical reason, but  _ Nicole _ didn’t. Nicole didn’t know just  _ how _ nervous she made Waverly, with her throw-away smiles that made Waverly blush, and her laughter - her beautiful, melodious, angelic laughter. Waverly was always inexplicably proud whenever she made Nicole laugh, whenever she saw the tell-tale signs of shaking shoulders and a beaming smile.

When Nicole finally caught sight of Waverly in the library, she felt a huge sense of relief that she didn’t think she could have explained to anyone (although she had a feeling that, were she to try to explain it to Rosita, she would be met with a pitying look and a ‘comforting’ punch on the shoulder). She didn’t even have that pressing of a question to ask; mostly, she just wanted to see her - even though she knew it was ridiculous.

Waverly was sitting alone in a corner of the noisy library, humming something absentmindedly to herself whilst the librarian tried desperately (and unsuccessfully) to fix the perpetually broken printer.  _ Honestly, the school seemed too poor to even function sometimes. _ As Nicole walked closer, she begun to be able to make out some of the words as, out-of-earshot of the librarian, Waverly had started to sing quietly to herself. It was almost unnoticeable, and perhaps would have been to anyone else but Nicole had always paid special attention to Waverly, drawn to her every movement. At last, Nicole drew close enough to hear the lyrics Waverly was singing.

“…It's harder than it should be, for me to be straightforward…”

Nicole moved a few steps closer. Now she was just feet away from where Waverly sat twirling a pen idly between her fingers as she stared down at whatever it was that she was trying to write.

“…even when I did, I couldn't tell her I adored her,” finished Waverly. Nicole thought that she could detect a touch of longing in the other girl’s sorrowful voice, but it was all too quiet to be sure.  _ Did Waverly  _ like _ someone? Wait - was Waverly ‘with’ someone?! _ Abruptly, Nicole realised that she didn't know the answer to either, though they were suddenly the most pressing questions on her mind. It was strange; just contemplating the latter made Nicole feel an unfamiliar sense of jealousy she couldn’t explain - that she had  _ no right  _ to feel.

Suddenly realising how near to Waverly she was standing - practically right behind her, in fact - Nicole sprung back to a more appropriate distance. Waverly still hadn’t noticed her presence, lost in the unfinished paragraph lay ominously in front of her, and Nicole cleared her throat awkwardly to try and catch her attention without startling her.  _ Mission most certainly  _ not  _ accomplished. _

Waverly must have jumped a foot into the air, and the piece of paper that had so captivated her was swept under the table. Blushing to the roots of her bright red hair, Nicole dropped to the ground to fetch it whilst simultaneously opening her mouth to apologise.

“No!” The exclamation was so uncharacteristically loud for Waverly that Nicole froze. As Waverly snatched the paper out of Nicole’s hand to a multitude of shushes from the students around them -  _ what hypocrites _ \- Nicole caught sight of the paper.

_ Nicole,  _ ~~_ I don’t know what to d _ ~~ _ I think that I should stop wr _

It was written to  _ her _ . It was written to her in the same handwriting as the notes left in locker; the kind, thoughtful notes that never failed to cheer her up after a particularly bad day; the notes that had been written by someone who had what seemed like a very poorly concealed crush. On  _ Nicole. _

* * *

 

Waverly was panicking. After the fiasco at the library, Nicole had rushed out amid curious whispering from the many students who had witnessed Waverly’s outburst.  _ She hadn’t even had a chance to explain. _

“What the FUCK am I meant to do, J?”

It was usually at times like this that Jeremy knew unerringly what the right thing to say would be, but he was uncharacteristically lost for words. Waverly had just finished explaining what had happened to him, and now she had her face buried in his shoulder as he rubbed her back consolingly. There was nothing he could say.

When, after a long while, Waverly had gradually calmed down enough to be vaguely responsive, Jeremy tried gently to suggest that Waverly just admit to Nicole what she was writing. However, she decisively turned down  _ that _ idea almost before he had finished saying it. His  _ extremely helpful and not at all unrealistic _ suggestion that she live out the rest of her life as a hermit (so as to lower the probability of ever having a conversation with Nicole - or anyone else, for that matter - to zero) was also  _ shockingly _ shot down, but it brought an unwilling smile to Waverly’s reluctant lips and so could be considered at least  _ partially _ a success.

At long last, Jeremy had to concede that the only option left was the ‘it was just something private; nope, nothing to do with you’ excuse, combined with hoping that Nicole hadn’t seen any of what was written. Waverly hadn’t  _ thought _ she had, but then she couldn’t be sure.

* * *

 

Although cool and slightly aloof at first, Nicole had readily accepted Waverly’s apology, and had gone as far as to actually hug Waverly when the girl apprehensively opened the front door to her. (Waverly had definitely  _ not  _ taken the opportunity to bury her face in Nicole’s hair and inhale the smell that was so  _ unquestionable _ Nicole.)  _ It was almost too easy _ , thought Waverly:  _ maybe Nicole _ had _ seen it? Maybe this was just her way of delicately letting Waverly know that she ‘just wasn’t interested.’  _ Waverly chose not to dwell on this possibility, though, instead still clinging to the faint hope that Nicole  _ hadn’t _ read the unfinished note that now Waverly would never leave for her.

By the end of the call, they were almost back to how they were before their unfortunate repartee in the library. (Waverly thought that she could still hear a trace of hurt and disbelief in Nicole’s voice, and it made her want to just explain everything to her, to tell her everything she was feeling. She didn’t, though.  _ It was too great of a risk.) _

* * *

 

After spending a solid couple of hours ploughing doggedly through piles of French homework with Waverly, Nicole had to admit that learning from the other girl was going to be a lot harder than she had previously imagined  _ (especially with the excited smiles Waverly kept giving her whenever Nicole managed to come to grips with another piece of grammar). _ On top of how  _ unfairly cute _ Waverly was, Nicole still couldn’t stop thinking about the note she had seen; it was definitely the same handwriting, and that handwriting was  _ definitely _ Waverly’s.  _ That  _ must  _ mean that Waverly was writing them, mustn't it? _

When she really considered it, Nicole had to admit that Waverly being the writer of the notes made sense.  _ Complete _ sense, in fact. It would explain everything. How Waverly would always blush endearingly when Nicole smiled at her. How Waverly had laughed awkwardly, bright red, at Nicole’s impromptu “ _ Je t’adore _ ” (in Nicole’s own defense, she was just trying to see if she had understood the ‘Direct Object’ section in the textbook - although  _ admittedly _ , she  _ might _ have just wanted to say it to Waverly knowing there would be no consequences). How much Waverly had stuttered after Nicole had hugged her when the other girl opened the door to her.

* * *

 

After agreeing wholeheartedly that it was time to stop their tutoring for a much-needed break, the two girls settled comfortably onto a sofa in the living room to start their  _ actual _ project. When Waverly had finally stopped moving, they were not  _ quite _ touching. Nicole wanted desperately to pull Waverly into her arms, but was petrified that she would be rejected. It had happened all too often for Nicole to want to take the risk, even though she was almost certain that Waverly  _ liked _ her.

When they were about half way through the film, Nicole felt Waverly shift slowly on the sofa, and held her breath when, tentatively, Waverly leant further and further into Nicole. 

Nicole shifted gently and Waverly had to resist the urge to shoot upright and apologise profusely for  _ whatever the fuck she thought she was doing _ . However, Waverly figured that she might as well try, and apprehensively placed her head on on Nicole’s shoulder. Nicole sighed contentedly, and Waverly couldn’t help but smile shyly into the other girl, even though she knew Nicole couldn’t see her.

* * *

 

About an hour later, Waverly woke to find Nicole gently stroking her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh i just realised that my horizontal lines (and also strikethroughs) aren't being copied over - am trying to correct that now... sorry!  
> as always, comments and kudos make my day :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And… um…I reallylikehearingyourvoice.”  
> There was a beat of silence, then - “Shit; I said that out loud, didn’t I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh almost at 200 kudos! thank you all so much!!

Waverly was pacing up and down in her living room, and already feeling strangely lonely considering Nicole had only left about half an hour ago.  _ Was it too early to call her? -Just to see if she had got home safe? Surely that was ‘casual friend’ behaviour… _ Waverly quickled dialled Nicole’s number before she could change her mind - and Nicole answered almost immediately.

“Hi!” greeted Nicole enthusiastically, although with a hint of confusion. “Miss me already?” Her tone was amused, and Waverly laughed awkwardly.

“Yes?” she answered, questioning herself even as she did -  _ this was most certainly  _ not _ going well; she just sounded desperate now. _

“Is that a fact, Waverly Earp?” Nicole’s voice was laced not with the mockery Waverly had feared (and expected), but with something else; something  _ very _ unfamiliar… “Well, as a matter of fact, I was just about to call  _ you _ \- but I guess you beat me to it.”

“You - you were?” Waverly’s voice was disbelieving, and her mind kept jumping to ideas that were most  _ definitely _ incorrect.

“I was,” Nicole confirmed, with a confidence Waverly could only hope for. A silence stretched between the two girls, Waverly seemingly incapable or breaking it, and Nicole unwilling to follow up her previous remark.

At last, Waverly broached the real reason of her call. “I just wanted to check you got home safe… but you obviously have… and now I’m rambling - now I’ll just g-”

“That’s very considerate of you,” interrupted Nicole smoothly. “I actually only live a couple of bus stops away, did you know?”

Waverly shook her head, and it almost seemed as if Nicole could sense it. “Well, I guess we’ll have to do this again then - that is, if you want to?” Waverly couldn’t believe she had had the courage to suggest such a thing, but Nicole replied eagerly:

“Actually, I would absolutely  _ love _ that. I’m not keeping you from anything, am I?” Nicole added hastily.  _ Waverly couldn’t imagine anything she would rather do than talk to her. _

“No, of course not.” Waverly rushed to correct her, and unthinkingly added “And… um…I reallylikehearingyourvoice.”

There was a beat of silence, then - “ _ Shit _ ; I said that out loud, didn’t I.”

Nicole nodded mutely and then, realising her blunder, let out a quick “Yes, you did.”  _ Wait - did that mean that Waverly was actually  _ interested _ in her?! That was an… unexpected turn of events… _

The rest of the call ended uneventfully, but Nicole was buzzing. She kept replaying the whole conversation in her head after they had hung up; by now, she was sure she could recite the entire exchange from memory. When she had calmed down slightly, she immediately called Rosita (who she was sure could impart some wisdom on her situation).

* * *

 

Nicole woke the next day to the incessant buzzing of her alarm clock, only to realise that it was, in fact, a Sunday. Scowling, she hit the sleep button, and reached blindly for her phone.  _ She might as well get some of her work done, seeing that she was awake. _ Her productive mindset was, however, disregarded as soon as she saw the multiple notifications on her phone; the next hour or so was spent scrolling through the many gifs and images Rosita had sent her. (Whilst they were not  _ un _ appreciated, there was a little voice in the back of her head reminding her of…  _ something _ she had forgotten.) Most of the messages from Rosita were of characters declaring their undying love for one another - perhaps it was not the best idea for Nicole to have told Rosita of her discovery yesterday.  _ What if she was wrong? Maybe she was just interpreting what she wanted to hear? But then again… Waverly had been writing the notes…  _

At long last, Nicole set down her phone and, sighing, finally began to work her way through the seemingly never-ending pile of homework that was due in on Monday. Trying not the think about how long it would take her to complete it all, she made yet  _ another _ mental promise to not procrastinate the following week. (Of course, it wouldn’t stick; Nicole had been putting things off ever since the school year had started. Coincidentally, this had been around the time that she had noticed Waverly…) Nicole had just finished her  _ mind-numbingly  _ dull History homework - researching into the causes of the Second World War, and was in the act of reaching for her French homework when she realised that she had left it at Waverly’s house the previous day.  _ Shit. _

_ What should she do? Would it be weird to call her again - it would, wouldn’t it; they had only just talked last night…  _ Nicole imagined not handing in her work on the next day, and she could just  _ feel _ her grade plummeting even more.  _ She had no other options. _

When Waverly picked up the phone, she was laughing so hard that Nicole could barely distinguish what the other girl was saying. It took several minutes for her to calm down enough to explain, and even then Nicole could only make out a very unclear picture of what had occured: someone (in all likelihood, Wynonna) had changed Nicole’s contact to something ridiculous. Each and every time Waverly tried to tell Nicole what it had been changed to, she burst into yet another fit of uncontrollable giggles, but eventually Nicole could make out the phrase… ‘Haught-Stuff.’  _ Wow.  _ Nicole had thought that by now she would have grown sick and tired of the puns on her last name; had it been anyone  _ but _ Waverly, she might even have been angry - but she couldn’t help smiling (albeit shortly) at the seemingly endless joy it brought Waverly.  _ Wasn’t  _ that _ telling? _

* * *

 

On Monday when Rosita arrived at school unexpectedly early (she was almost  _ always _ late for one reason or another), she made an immediate bee-line towards Nicole. The girl was staring towards something (or  _ someone _ ), and Rosita didn’t even have to turn around to know that it was Waverly. Snapping her fingers impatiently, she broke Nicole out of her reverie. Dazed, Nicole appeared to look right through her for a second, until she adjusted to the person blocking her view.

“Wow… you really are  _ hopeless _ , aren’t you?” asked Rosita. Without waiting for a reply, she continued. “So I have an  _ ingenious _ plan, which you will most definitely appreciate.” Her voice left little room for argument, and Nicole resigned herself to what was almost certainly a plan doomed to fail. “The only downside is - um - that you don’t get to know what it is.”

Nicole was already dreading it, but she knew there was nothing she could do to prevent Rosita when she was like this. “Sure,” she agreed uncertainly. “It’s not like I have a choice, right?”

“Nope!” called Rosita happily over her shoulder, already on her way to begin exacting whatever it was that she was plotting. As Nicole had already started walking towards the school entrance, she didn’t see Rosita walk purposefully towards the boy just arriving at the school gates, and pull him away to whisper into his ear. She didn’t see the boy’s face light up with a craftly grin, or the two of them bend their heads together and start to whisper excitedly to each other.

* * *

 

As always, when Jeremy got to school he started heading over to Waverly, but was quickly intercepted by a girl he vaguely recognised from Waverly pointing her out.  _ Rosita _ , he thought she was called -  _ oh yes; the one who was always talking to Nicole.  _ From what he could remember from Waverly, Rosita was, like him, clever enough for it to be an issue to the less accepting kids (the ‘popular’ ones) - but unlike him, she had learned to dodge the teasing and snarky comments with a few quick-witted, razor sharp remarks. Jeremy had never been to good with those, to his eternal regret.

Rosita pulled him away from the school gates, and, although he was shocked, Jeremy didn’t resist. A whispered conversation and a hasty swapping of phone numbers (as a curious Waverly started to walk towards them) later, the two were grinning ear to ear. The co-conspirators quickly agreed to text each other later, and Rosita briskly strode off just as Waverly came within ear-shot.

When Nicole discovered that her phone was missing in fourth period, Jeremy had to turn away for a second to smooth over his guilty expression. When he turned back around, completely poker-faced, Nicole scanned him with what he thought was an over-suspicious look, but eventually decided that she must simply have left it at home that day.

* * *

**11/12/17 [Rosita B]**

(8:14) _This is Rosita._

(13:57) k i’ve got it! she thi8nks she just left it at hme :-)

(13:59) _Well, Jeremy, you are certainly a lot more devious than I gave you credit for…_

(14:19) um thanks?

(14:21) when shall we start then?

(15:17) _how about…_

(15:17) _now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we are nearing the end... but hopefully it will be a happy one! (spoiler: it will)  
> as always, your kudos and comments motivate me to write even faster :))


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They’re going to tease us about this forever, aren’t they?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been a while... this is the final chapter, though, and it's about double the length of some of the others!  
> people's response to this story has honestly blown me away! special thanks to lflorez21_haught for comments on Every Single Chapter!!

Waverly was just sitting down to begin what was looking to be yet another mind-numbingly dull History lesson when she heard a faint but familiar sound coming from her bag that announced a new text message. She had only just turned on her phone, so supposed the message must have been sent the day before; almost everyone she knew would currently just be starting _their_ classes. Luckily, her phone was muffled enough so as not to draw too much attention to it; although Waverly herself was never much of a rule-breaker, it seemed like _all_ the teachers in the school had taught Wynonna, and had both assumed and expected Waverly to be as troublesome and infuriating as her surname led them to believe.

(The only exception to this had been from Mrs McCready, who - although having taught Wynonna enough to have reason to fear any sibling of hers - completely disregarded Waverly’s last name. In her first week of school, when Waverly had trudged reluctantly into her new English class, expecting to be looked warily up and down before being told to sit “right at the front, please” (as she had been in so many of her previous classes already) the teacher had simply smiled warmly at her and that had been that.)

Surreptitiously scrolling through her phone to her new text messages, Waverly had to stifle a gasp when she saw the message - and more importantly, who it was from:

**26/11/17 [Haught-Stuff]**

(09:07) _hey xx_

(09:07) _wanna hang out at the weekend?_

(09:08) _i promise ill make it worth your time... ;)_

 _What the fuck?_ Waverly didn’t understand. Even after entertaining the possibility that Nicole might be interested in her after their ‘study session’ (which felt suspiciously like a date the more Waverly thought about it), she had never _actually_ considered it. But _now_ \- surely this could only mean the affirmative? Even with the texts (which only _strengthened_ her hypothesis), Waverly couldn’t help but wonder whether it was all made up.

_Well, there was only one way to be sure. She would just have to march up to Nicole and ask her outright - preferably in private (where there would be no one to witness what she couldn’t help but imagine to be the inevitable rejection). Also preferably in the most off-hand, casual way possible, so she could show home insignificant it would be were Nicole to bluntly say that she “just wasn’t interested.”_

Waverly had always expected the worst to arise from any given situation for, well, as long as she could remember. The way she saw it, you were a lot less likely to be disappointed if you did so; you could only be pleasantly surprised. The girl saw it not as the pessimism it was so often referred to as, but as a safety mechanism that guarded against more frequent let-downs than would otherwise occur.

In her opinion, this could _only_ be a positive thing; granted it had its disadvantages, but Waverly had been let down and disappointed too many times to want to create more chances for it to happen again - and if this gave her the label of ‘pessimistic’ or ‘cynical’, then so be it. _She’d already been hurt_ far _too many times._ In fact, she thought she could just about remember Wynonna explaining this to her younger self - _she must only have been around six or seven years old_ \- after overhearing a particularly argument with their father. Waverly could still recall the utter sadness in her older sister’s eyes as she tried to explain; tried to prepare her for next time. If she closed her eyes and concentrated, she thought she could still make out the tear tracks on memory-Wynonna’s cheeks.

Waverly had felt numb for the rest of the day after that, still hearing her sister’s words echoing around a mind that was suddenly in turmoil as she struggled to complete what were usually menial chores, usually easy for her to carry out. She had felt numb when her father had prompted her to go faster, felt even number still when his voice eventually rose to the inevitable shouting she would later - _soon_ \- come to expect. She had even felt numb in the aftermath, when Wynonna found her crying in a corner of the barn and tried to comfort her, while Willa simply watched, her eyes hard and unpitying.

 _Willa_ had never had a problem with disappointment; whatever _she_ desired was automatically at the top of their father’s list of priorities. _She had always been his favourite._ Wynonna and Waverly had been lucky to even had their existences _remembered_ some days, whilst Willa had, it had often seemed to them at the time, been waited on hand and foot.

* * *

 

It had only been a mere two lessons since Waverly had received Nicole’s texts ( _143 minutes, if you were counting_ \- not, of course, that Waverly was), and as if to make matters worse, her next lesson was English - _with_ Nicole.

Thinking it would encourage more engagement and enthusiasm about each of the pairs’ respective projects, Mrs McCready had enforced a rule each of the pairs sitting together in all of her lessons, ever since she had first revealed the groups. Back then, Waverly had secretly been glad of the increased opportunity to talk to Nicole (despite the obvious increase in ways she could now embarrass herself in front of her - of which Jeremy had gleefully proceeded to remind her of as soon as that first fateful lesson had ended). Right now, however, Waverly only felt a sense of dread. It was clear to her that she couldn’t confront Nicole in the lesson - that would be _completely_ too public - and so she had already realised that she would just have to sit the lesson out _without_ mentioning the texts, _or_ the question whose pressing need to be answered was only growing more urgent by the minute.

Internally, Waverly was wishing desperately that Jeremy had such a conflicting timetable to hers; at the moment he was a couple of buildings away, ‘trapped’ - as he so appropriately put it - in one of the huge IT suites, whilst Waverly herself was sitting through an explanation of Latin cases so basic that she found herself unable to pay attention to. Instead, she was trying to internally play out all the possible ways that her later conversation with Nicole could go, and how she might be able to rectify each of the different scenarios. _That was obviously a_ perfectly natural _thing to do._

* * *

 

Waverly’s English lesson was Absolute Hell. Nicole’s attempts at conversation with her had been so awkward and stilted that they had lapsed into uncomfortable, and Waverly could see Nicole glancing worriedly at her every couple of minutes.

The second the bell signaling the end of the class rang, Waverly was out of her seat and shoving her things into her bag as fast as she could. _She couldn’t wait for the day to be over._ In her eagerness to pack up her books as quickly as possible, she knocked over Nicole’s pencil case, and the contents spilled all over the floor. _Shit. Things really couldn’t get any worse._ A hurried apology later, Waverly was on her hands and knees trying to gather together all of dropped stationary. Eventually, everything was shoved untidily back into its rightful places, and Waverly headed straight for the door, not looking back - _but still holding the fucking case_. Gritting her teeth, she walked back over to their shared desk and carefully deposited the item on its owner’s side of the table. Nicole looked up then, and their eyes met for an instance. The moment was soon broken, however, when Nicole reached down to pick up one of her textbooks off the floor, and a mountain of paper fell out.

Resignedly, Waverly bent down to help retrieve them. She couldn’t _not_ help Nicole; it just wasn’t possible. Most of them looked to Waverly to be Bio notes, but a few looked familiar. Picking one up, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Nicole was facing another way, scrambling to pick up other sheets that had fallen further away. Waverly read what the slip of paper said surreptitiously, her eyes widening imperceptibly as she struggled to understand it.

_You dropped your guy and took me on_

_It’s everything I wanted_

_But then what?_

_Would you get tired of my time?_

After her eyes had finished skimming over the lyrics, Waverly sat back on her heels, her mind reeling. She had instantly recognised them - of course she had. This _must_ mean Nicole had been writing the notes to her; this was the song their writer had mentioned in one of the notes. _If Waverly had gone home that night and listened to the song on repeat until the lyrics were tattooed into her brain then that was nobody else’s business but her own. (Maybe it was Jeremy’s a_ little _; after Waverly had been humming the song for days, he had finally asked her what it was - at which point she had clammed up for hours until quietly admitting that someone had written her a note about it.)_

 _Now, she_ really _had to talk to Nicole._

Quickly scooping up some more of the loose sheafs of paper, she haphazardly dumped them onto Nicole’s growing pile. The other girl smiled gratefully at her, and Waverly couldn’t stop herself from blurting out “Can we talk - later? It’s really important.”

“Sure,” Nicole replied, confused. _Maybe Waverly would explain why she had been acting so weird…_ “After school good? By the gates?”

“Sure, yeah, that’d be good.” said Waverly before quickly glancing down at her phone. “Shit; I’m going to be late - I’ll see you later!”

It was almost half an hour after school had ended, and Nicole knew she probably shouldn’t have waited so long over the time she and Waverly had agreed on; there were plenty of more productive things she could otherwise be doing rather than waiting for a girl who didn’t seem like she was going to show up. Sighing, she was just standing up to leave when, as if she had been waiting for her cue, Waverly ran into view.

“Hi,” Nicole greeted her, her voice coming out slightly tinged with resentment. “Where were you?”

“Oh; I had to ask one of our teachers something.” Waverly didn’t understand why Nicole looked so put-out: “I texted you. You didn’t have to wait. Speaking of - I wanted to ask you about those texts you sent.” The next part of her speech (carefully planned and rehearsed in her head) came out rushed, but Waverly didn’t stop until she had finished. “I really, _really_ like you and I was writing those notes to you - that’s what I was writing in the library - and I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t think you liked me like that but I couldn’t help it but then you were being so… nice? to me? and I just thought that you _might_ like me - and then with your texts and everything I thought that I might as well ask you.” Waverly took a deep breath before finishing off with “And also I thought that you were the one writing notes to _me_ but I don’t know… and now I’m not sure anymore because you aren’t _saying_ anything and -”

Nicole cut her off by grabbing her hand; Waverly had been starting to turn away - starting to leave - and Nicole couldn’t bear to be left behind again.

“Okay… um… I _was_ writing notes to you? And I _do_ like you; I _really_ like you - but I didn’t get your texts _or_ send you texts because I don’t have my phone - which I now suspect to be part of _someone’s_ plotting...”

Waverly couldn’t believe her ears, and her brain decided to focus on the parts of Nicole’s response that _wouldn’t_ make her mind spontaneously combust.

“Hey - does that mean we’ve been set up? Jeremy’s been _rather_ suspicious lately…

“It does look like it,” responded Nicole with a laugh. When Waverly didn’t reply, Nicole tentatively, moved her hand towards the other girl’s. Taking a deep breath, she reached down and carefully linked their hands together. The radiant smile she received made her heart stop beating for a moment.

“I guess we’ll have to thank Rosita and Jeremy next time we see them,” said Nicole. “They’re going to tease us about this for _ever_ , aren’t they?”

“Well, I’m _definitely_ not complaining,” replied Waverly, beaming up at Nicole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos make my day!   
> also, if you have any prompts for another wayhaught or wynonna earp fic, feel free to comment those :)


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